Deconstruction - Amateur Film Noir

Deconstruction of Amateur Film Noir

To gain more of an insight into what would and wouldn't be realistic for our own production I decided to analyse a previous film noir piece made for coursework. Below is the film I have deconstructed. Rather than AS it is an A2 piece and is a short film rather than a film opening but the themes and possibilities for our own coursework will be similar. 

Location

The piece uses various locations that would be easily accessible for our own coursework. 

This scene is filmed in a wide alleyway between two buildings which could easily be done for us. It was filmed at night which would usually not be possible, but for this scene the bright streetlight in the background provides great lighting which makes the character appear as a silhouette, adding mystery and tension to the scene. 

It's not shown what room this scene takes place in, but the camera angles they used have made sure that it doesn't matter as it focuses only on the desk and the characters. The background of the room is fully black and cannot be seen and, judging by the lighting on the characters, there is probably a light above them causing this effect.

The next scene makes use of an old, vintage telephone box. This would be a great location to use if we could locate one as these telephone boxes are key elements of 50s Britain and would be used regularly at the time. However, it's unlikely that we'd be able to find an old looking one like this as most of the telephone boxes that are local are more modern looking and wouldn't fit the image.

The location in this scene is a dark street. Again, it was filmed at night which usually wouldn't be realistic as many things cannot be seen properly, but I think the filming was well done as the light from the street lamp creates an amazing noir effect. This would be a simple location as there are many streets with lampposts we could use, however it would be a challenge to create the same effect seen here. 

This part, being filmed in a house, would be easy to replicate as this would be the most simple place to film. However I feel that the scene's lighting doesn't fit with the rest of it, as the image has low contrast and it would be better to use locations that have a good use of highlights and shadows. Also, the house is quite modern and so doesn't quite fit with the time the film is set, which appears from the mise-en-scene to be in the 1950s.

Sound

The film opens using a non-diegetic soundtrack of stringed instruments. The music is slow and slightly sad and creates mystery and tension as it's played in a minor key. The track continues for the whole of the first scene and builds up gradually to include more instruments. I think this sound effect is effective as it is quite melancholic and a similar piece of music would feel suitable for our own project.

A very quiet, muted jazz soundtrack plays in the background of the next scene. It is barely audible, however it makes the scene feel less empty as it would feel if it was just the two girls speaking and also helps to eradicate background noise as it distracts from it. In the scene, a diegetic clashing sound occurs when the girl slams her hand on the table which aims to make the viewer jump. The sound of the high heels walking down the corridor can also be heard.

As the scene with the telephone box begins, a smashing noise can be heard, a common sound associated with the inner city as it's often quite chaotic. Then, sad sounding piano music begins to play as she uses the phone. This represents her anger and the dramatic tone of it foreshadows the tragedy that occurs later in the film. Previously, we have only thought about using typical jazz music in our piece but these sounds have shown me that other genres can also be effective for certain moods. 

In the scene where she sits on the stairs and onwards, Moonlight Sonata is playing, a song widely known to be very sad. I feel as though its use here didn't fit well with the rest of the film as most of the other music has been soft background music whereas this song is more powerful and takes over the whole scene, and also I feel as though it doesn't fit the film noir genre. As its a copyrighted bit of music, we wouldn't be able to use it anyway in our production. 

However, I thought when she fired the gun at the end the sound effect of the dogs barking was a nice touch as this would be the typical reaction of dogs upon hearing a gunshot and makes it more realistic. 

Finally, what I think is the most interesting technique used for the sound, is the inner monologue of the main character used as a voiceover. If we could find someone confident enough in voice acting skills, an inner monologue like this would be very effective and would be able to provide an insight into the thoughts of our characters, and is also a very common trope in film noir.